Alessandra Giliani (1307 - 1326)

Alessandra Giliani was thought to be an Italian natural historian, best known as the first woman to be recorded in historical documents as practicing anatomy and pathology. However, the historical evidence for her existence is limited. Some scholars consider her to be a fiction invented by  Alessandro Machiavelli (1693-1766), while  others hold that the participation of a woman in anatomy at that time was so shocking that she has been edited out of history. source: Wikipedia

Known for
Giliani is said to have carried out her own anatomical investigations, developing a method of draining the blood from a corpse and replacing it with a hardening coloured dye—and possibly adding to our understanding of the coronary-pulmonary circulatory system. (All evidence of her work was either lost or destroyed.)

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Works based on
Barbara Quick's novel, A Golden Web, published by HarperTeen in 2010, is a fictional re-imagining of Alessandra Giliani's life and times.